Formula One is to scrap drive-through
penalties such as the one that scuppered Juan Pablo Montoya's title
hopes last season.
International Automobile Federation (FIA) president
Max Mosley told Reuters after a meeting of team bosses on Friday
that they had agreed to revise procedures.
"We are going to tell the drivers at the first
race that we will no longer have drive-through or stop-go penalties
where there is an incident between two cars but one or both cars
continue in the race," he said.
"There will be a hearing after the race and
then a penalty will be imposed, depending on the gravity of the
offence.
"If that happens three times in a season the
stewards are going to look very seriously into giving (the driver)
a one race suspension. It won't be automatic but they will look
at it very seriously," said Mosley.
Colombian Montoya was a title challenger for Williams
until last year's penultimate U.S. Grand Prix where he collided
on a slippery track with the Ferrari of Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
Barrichello, team mate to eventual winner and world
champion Michael Schumacher, spun off into the gravel and retired
but Montoya continued and was given a drive-through penalty.
It began to rain and he had to stop for wet tyres
before coming in for his penalty, leaving him out of the running.
Barrichello did not blame the Colombian for the
nudge as Montoya tried to overtake and the Williams driver insisted
it had been a racing incident.
Mosley
subsequently suggested a revision of the procedures, advocating
a penalty points system similar to that used to sanction road traffic
offences in many countries.
"This is more flexible than that but there
is the principle that someone who keeps on causing an accident in
a dangerous way will be looking at a suspension," he said.
"But we don't want to discourage people from racing." |